Prologue
Diversity. Uniqueness. Expression. Language. Social media. For centuries, humanity had celebrated these things—learning from one another, spreading creativity, sharing ideas in their own words. Seventy-five years ago, the world looked very different.
In 2030, Adam Lawrence was elected President of the United States. With him came sweeping changes, the kind that would alter every corner of society. New laws were passed, and a nationwide dress code was enforced: khaki pants, plain black shoes, and crisp white button-down shirts for everyone. The President claimed it was for equality—uniformity would erase privilege, differences, and competition.
The country resisted. High school and college students led the charge, protesting in city streets, shouting slogans, clashing with law enforcement. Riots erupted from coast to coast. Arrests piled up. Blood and anger marked the weeks of chaos. And yet, after the noise died down, Lawrence enacted another law: from that moment forward, all citizens were to speak proper English—no slang, no curse words, no exceptions.
It didn’t matter if you were at work, at school, or just walking down the street. Every word you spoke, every article of clothing you wore, became regulated. Anyone caught defying the rules faced prison—or worse. Death sentences were not unheard of.
And it didn’t stop there. Every president for the next seventy years continued the Regulations of Lawrence, cementing uniformity as the law of the land. Nations across the globe noticed, some copying the model, enforcing the same strict conformity on their own people.
But whispers persisted. Stories of a hidden resistance, rebels daring to reclaim the world’s lost individuality, spread quietly from town to town. Some said the rebels were nothing but rumors, the desperate fantasies of those tired of a monochrome existence. Others swore they were real, striking from the shadows, fighting to bring back the vibrancy the world had lost.
And in the silence of the regulated streets, the question lingered: would anyone rise to join them?
